Russian doctors allow Alexei Navalny to be airlifted to Germany, say condition is 'stable'

Doctors treating Russian President Vladimir Putin’s critic Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma after an alleged poisoning incident, have allowed him to be taken to Germany on Friday, August 21.

This came as a sudden U-turn after a little over 24 hrs, as doctors in the Siberian city of Omsk had earlier raised concerns about Navalny’s critical condition and oppose his transfer. The 44-year-old Putin critic was taken ill on a plane and was admitted to the intensive care unit on Thursday and his supporters have alleged that he was poisoned on Kremlin’s orders. 

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Russian doctors face backlash

Navalny’s family and his supporters had vouched for the politician and corruption investigator to be taken to a top German medical clinic. However, the Russian doctors had said he was too unstable to move even after the plane with German specialists along with advanced equipment arrived. This move drew more backlash from Navalny’s supporters who claimed that it was another plot by the authorities to let the poison become untraceable in his. However, a senior doctor in Omsk has already said that the team did not believe Putin’s critic was poisoned. 

The 44-year-old’s wife Yulia Navalny had even written to the Russian President requesting her husband’s immediate transfer. Eventually, the German doctors were ‘allowed’ to see Navalny and said they will be able to airlift the patient out of the local Siberian hospital to Berlin.

Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh is reported to have said that it is a matter of shame that the Russian doctors took so long to approve his flight to Germany even though the documents were signed on Friday morning. Putin’s critic will be taken to Germany on Saturday morning. 

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Doctors say Navalny’s condition is ‘stable’ 

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted deputy chief doctor Anatoly Kalinichenko saying that Alexei Navalny’s condition is ‘stable’. Warning that flying is not recommended, he also noted that the patient’s family has been persuading to continue the treatment in Germany, and therefore, they have taken the decision to not object the transfer. 

Doctors have suggested ‘metabolic disorder’ due to low blood sugar causing Navalny to fall into a coma. Then, the health officials also indicated that there were certain traces of an industrial chemical that were found in the skin and hair of the 44-year-old.

Alexei Navalny is known to have consistently exposed official corruption in Russia and has also served jail time in several instances. Despite the narrative put forth by the doctors, his supporters have claimed that a poisonous substance was put in his tea at an airport cafe in the city of Tomsk while he was on his way to Moscow. 

(With AP Inputs)

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